Predicted heavy snowstorm fizzles

The weather pattern across Franklin County and most of the Intermountain West has changed. But large amounts of snow that were forecast on Wednesday did not materialize.

King Smith, who keeps official records for the National Weather Service, said warmer-than-expected temperatures persisted throughout the night and kept the moisture that did come mostly in the form of rain.

“As of 10 p.m. Wednesday night we had .22 of an inch of rain and 2.2 inches of snow. The total for the entire month is only .23 of an inch. I did notice that some of the area’s automated Snotel sites in the mountains recorded over one-inch of precipitation.

“We would only need about 12 more storms like that to bring the area up to long-term averages. The pattern is supposed to hold for at least another week. From what I can read into their predictions, we are to get a storm almost every other day for the next seven. Remember, most forecasts are not very good after two or three days.

Rainy weather continued in much of the county through the night and during the day on Thursday and moisture totals will continue to increase.